


Whoever You Were

by FallingArtist



Category: Motherland Fort Salem, Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Memories, Past, mindscape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:47:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23566306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingArtist/pseuds/FallingArtist
Summary: Scylla comes clean to Raelle. The Spree attack.Scylla gets hurt to protect Raelle and enters a coma.Raelle has to face Scylla's past to bring her back.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 29
Kudos: 228





	1. Attack on Fort Salem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Spree attack and Scylla gets hurt protecting Raelle.

Raelle was still trying to wrap her head around everything that had happened.

The Spree had attacked. A big attack. Directly at Fort Salem, right in their front yard.

And before that, Scylla. Scylla had confessed about being with the Spree, had told her she didn’t want to be part of that anymore. She had sounded remorseful and heartbroken at having her beliefs shattered.

She had asked Raelle to run away together, get away from all the conflict, find somewhere they could hide.

But after that everything had happened so fast and Raelle couldn’t come to terms with it.

Abigail and Scylla had fought – Raelle hadn’t known how to react to Scylla’s revelation and Abigail had stepped in to protect her. Abigail had been so defensive, yet Raelle could tell that she was still restraining herself, probably not wanting to hurt someone that Raelle still loved.

What was even more shocking was that Scylla seemed to hold back as well.

Abigail had made Scylla leave, and then all hell had broken loose.

Scylla wasn’t the only one the Spree had managed to have infiltrate Fort Salem, they had three more people who led the attack from the inside.

***

The storm of balloons coming their way, the ones that a single line of witches had been able to push back, was only a distraction.

The real fight started in General Alder’s office, with a Sergeant attacking Alder through the biddies, managing to kill two of them before the general blasted her through the wall.

With Alder hurt, Fort Salem’s magical defences were automatically weakened, and the Spree launched their main offensive.

Raelle and the rest of the unit found themselves fighting with the little training they had been given, alongside a few hundreds of other witches.

The Spree used sound attacks as well as direct combat tactics. They attacked from all fronts, but the witches of Fort Salem held their own well.

They were pushing back hard and eventually managed to force the terrorists beyond the perimeter line.

Just as they were getting into formation again, lining up around the perimeter to keep the enemies out, a new line of attackers came into sight.

A big Beebo inflatable was released in the sky, with a line of Spree witches pushing it forward using the wind.

The army witches tried to repel it by manipulating the air as they did against the diversion that had preceded the attack, but their efforts were almost nullified by the Spree witches behind the inflatable.

The giant blue inflatable that might have looked like an engorged version of a plush toy for children crossed the perimeter line and exploded soon after.

People started dropping to the ground, including a handful of Spree members that were still fighting close to the perimeter. The other terrorists close to the battle were harmonising with their hands covering their ears.

In the seconds leading up to the sound explosion, Raelle saw Scylla run towards her, yelling something at her in panic.

She could remember Scylla reaching her and placing her hands over Raelle’s ears, harmonising a tune that Raelle did not know.

The explosion happened, but Raelle didn’t hear it, all she did was watch as Scylla fell to the ground, shaking violently.

Raelle dropped to her knees beside her and tried to wake her up, but the seizures were getting worse, and everyone around them was experiencing the same thing.

Raelle was the closest of her unit to the fight, Abigail and Tally somewhere behind her. She looked behind her shoulders in panic, worried that they’d be in the same conditions as Scylla.

But Abigail and Tally were rushing towards her, unarmed by the sound attack, having been out with the range of the explosion.

Tally crouched on the ground on Scylla’s other side looking at the people around them, desperately wanting to help them but not knowing how.

She turned to Raelle, who was shouting Scylla’s name with fear in her eyes, and put a hand on her friend’s arm, “I’m going to find help. It will be okay.”

She tried to sound reassuring, but they both knew it would likely not be okay. The witches that had been fighting on the front lines were all on the ground, their bodies fighting a spell that Raelle and Tally couldn’t even begin to understand.

Abigail had checked to make sure Raelle was okay, then moved on to join the new line of blasters trying to keep the Spree at bay.

They needn’t have bothered, though, as the remaining terrorists made a hasty retreat, seemingly uninterested in taking over the base.

Soon enough, the collapsed soldiers stopped convulsing and their bodies went rigid, dead-like. Fixers started helping the worst wounded people who were still conscious, giving priority to those they knew they could save.

Of the chaos that ensued, Raelle didn’t register much. She was focused on Scylla, staring at her face and still calling her name, unable to let go of the other girl even when Tally and Abigail came back to try and get her to the infirmary to look at the wounds she had gotten during combat.

Older, more experienced witches checked the unconscious soldiers; they determined they were still alive but were unable to tell what was happening to them.

Finally, after the worst injured were taken care of, they begun moving the others inside, carrying them to the infirmary.

Raelle still refused to leave Scylla’s side, her face was stained with tears and dirt, her arm and her side were bleeding, but she wouldn’t let anyone heal her before they knew what the sound attack had done to Scylla.

Abigail and Tally helped take both of them back to their dorm room, the infirmary too full to accommodate any more people.

A healer went with them and forced Raelle to accept treatment for her injuries, promising to come back for Scylla as soon as they figured out what was happening to the people hit by the sound attack. 

They waited for hours, Tally and Abigail tried to talk to Raelle, but their friend looked like she was still in shock.

“Rae, she will be fine, I’m sure the older witches will find a way to heal her,” Tally moved to sit on the bed next to Raelle, enveloping the shorter girl in a hug.

Abigail tried to hold her tongue, knowing it wasn’t the right moment to remind everyone they were talking about a terrorist.

She had always had a bad feeling about Scylla and rightly so. But after Abigail had forced Scylla to leave, Raelle had tried to defend her actions to the rest of the unit.

She had told them about Scylla’s past, about how the Spree must have manipulated her ever since her parents died. She insisted that Scylla had turned against the terrorist group and that was why she had come clean.

To Abigail, that was no excuse. And while Tally had tried to go easy on Raelle, Abigail had let her know exactly how she felt. But the situation was different now.

Now Necro was unconscious and Raelle looked devastated. Abigail didn’t want to make it even worse for her friend, so she swallowed her remarks and started pacing around the room.

Less than an hour later, Glory came into the room, rushing to hug Tally and make sure she was okay.

Libba followed, her pace much more controlled and her expression guarded. She didn’t ask Abigail if she was okay, but both girls looked each other over, badly hiding their relief at seeing the other was mostly unharmed.

Finally, after the sun had already set, the healer came back with some news.

Raelle had barely said a word since she stopped calling Scylla’s name, but she stood up suddenly and met the woman at the door when the older witch walked in.

“The sound released by the inflatable seems to have forced them into a coma,” the healer started.

“Will they wake up?”

The woman frowned, “The coma is of magical nature.”

She went on to explain they had narrowed it down to two possible scenarios. It could be a curse, and in that case waking them up would be incredibly difficult. Or, more likely, they could have been trapped into their own subconscious.

She explained that in the second case, the key to waking them would be to find the person’s conscious self and bring them back from the depths of their mind.

“So they’re stuck in their own heads?” Tally asked.

The healer made an unsure sound, “Sort of. If this scenario is the correct one, they are lost somewhere in their memories, unable to find their way back to the surface of their mind, to make it simple.”

“Ok, what do we do then? How do we get them back?” Raelle pressed.

“It will take time. Normally, someone would have to link with them and find them in their subconscious mind, then bring them back. But for that to be successful a strong connection is usually required, as well as psychic training to know how to navigate the mindscape conjured by the unconscious mind.

“In this case, that is hardly an option. We are trying to find another solution, some way to safely end the coma without leaving the person’s consciousness behind.”

Tally put her hand on Raelle’s back, sensing she was about to snap.

“Let me do the linking, I can bring her back.”

The healer shook her head forcefully. “Out of the question. Even if your connection with her were strong enough to link you two, you do not have the training to survive something like that. And even if you managed to enter her mindscape, you wouldn’t be able to get out.

“You would just end up in the same condition, except you wouldn’t survive long in someone else’s mind. You would have a few days, perhaps a week before your brain shut down and you died. And we don’t know how long it might take to find a cure, so it’s safer for you to stay put and let us do our job.”

Raelle tried to protest, but Tally and Abigail held her back. Tally led her back to the bed, trying to calm her down, while Abigail thanked the healer saw her out. 

Libba and Glory left too, promising to come back later to check on them and bring food.

“She might never wake up,” whispered Raelle.

The broken sobs that started to rock her friend’s body tugged at Abigail’s heart. Whatever terrible things Scylla had done, Raelle was still clearly very in love with her, and Abigail didn’t want her to lose that.

It wasn’t looking good for Scylla, and Abigail was worried about what would happen to Raelle if Scylla died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo...what do you think is gonna happen?  
> Will try to post the next chapter next week.


	2. Research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raelle looks for ways to help Scylla.   
> She finds support in Glory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It just occurred to me that most of my readers probably use US English, so I just wanted to say sorry for all those ‘u’s, but they belong there for me xD 
> 
> Enjoy!

Raelle was staring at the wall, one hand resting on Scylla’s arm on the bed, unable to ever fully detach herself from the other girl.

They hadn’t heard any more news, Glory and Libba had come back with food, as promised, and they had all been in a tense silence for over an hour now.

Everyone kept glancing her way and Raelle could feel their concern washing over her like an overwhelming wave. They were trying to give her space and at the same time be there for her, but it wasn’t working.

Raelle already felt like she was going crazy, just waiting in the dark, unable to do anything.

The night was dripping by slowly, Raelle was aware of every second like water leaking from a bad tap.

She was replaying the fight over and over again in her head, considering whether a different reaction might have led to a different result in the battlefield.

Scylla had come clean about her involvement with the Spree, she had told Raelle about her past, her childhood. She had tried to warn them about the attack.

But Raelle had stopped listening, too caught up thinking about the lies, getting lost in the fake moments and forgetting the real ones.

Then Abigail had tried to physically fight Scylla and eventually had forced her to leave, and Scylla never had the chance to finish her warning.

Finally, Raelle got tired of the silence, of the looks of compassion from everyone in the room, and she stood up from the floor, a determined expression on her face.

She looked at Scylla for a long moment, the other girls staring and waiting to see what she would do, then she sat at her side and took her face in her hands.

Closing her eyes, Raelle concentrated on the feeling she got whenever she healed someone, trying to create that same connection with Scylla now.

Abigail was the first to reach out and physically stop her, forcing her back and away from the unconscious witch.

“Raelle, no! The healer said it’s dangerous!”

Raelle tried to shake her off, ready to fight, needing to release the anger and guilt she felt.

“You don’t even know what to do! You don’t have any kind of psychic training!”

“Let me go!” Raelle shouted, inadvertently releasing a blast of magic that knocked Abigail to the floor.

Everyone paused for a moment, looking at Raelle like she was going to break any second.

Then Glory moved to help Abigail up, while Tally stepped in front of Raelle, placing her hands on her friend’s arms in a soothing gesture.

“I know it’s hard to wait and do nothing, but there’s nothing you _can_ do, Rae. You wouldn’t be able to help her even if you managed to connect with her.”

Raelle stared at Tally’s face like she wasn’t seeing her, then she finally broke down in the other witch’s arms.

*** * ***

It had been five days. Five days of waiting at Scylla’s side, 120 hours of pacing the room and holding the unconscious girl’s hand.

Raelle had barely slept, only managing to get some rest after collapsing from exhaustion. And even then, she would never get more than three hours of sleep in a row.

Sometimes she would collapse next to Scylla, sometimes it would be on Tally’s bed instead, while the other girl was braiding her hair to try and distract her.

Abigail and Raelle had fought about Scylla’s involvement with the Spree. Abigail had said that they should tell General Alder about Scylla’s confession. Raelle had threatened storm and fury if she said anything to anyone.

Tally had to stop them from getting into another fight, compromising that they would wait until Scylla woke up before deciding what to do about the new information.

Raelle was growing more and more restless by the hour. A solution was yet to be found, and the healers had made no progress in finding a safe way to end the magical coma.

They had confirmed the victims were trapped into their own subconscious, but they were still nowhere near finding a direct cure that wouldn’t involve entering each individual’s subconscious.

Meanwhile, Raelle had only ever left the room to visit the library. Abigail had obtained an exemption from training for her, on the grounds of her girlfriend being in a coma, but Anacostia would only grant it for a week. Now Raelle was running out of time.

She had been reading about psychic connections and navigating mindscapes, she had been studying the subconscious – but there was so much on the topic that it couldn’t possibly be assimilated in a few days.

Her mother, Willa, had psychic abilities. Raelle remembers her saying that working with other people’s psyche was incredibly draining and could have lasting effects.

She had explained that after Raelle, as a little kid, had noticed her looking particularly tired and sick one night. Willa had come home after an emergency call from Fort Salem, looking exhausted and the child had immediately worried.

But when Raelle had asked about psychic magic again, as a teenager, her mother had always answered briefly and vaguely, reticent in telling Raelle anything too specific.

Now, Raelle was sitting at the desk in the dorm room, taking notes from another book she had checked out of the library that morning.

She was staring at ancient symbols, trying to copy them as exactly as possible, when Glory knocked on the door and walked in, a notebook in her hands.

“Ok, so, you need to promise me you won’t do anything on your own after reading this.”

That piqued Raelle’s attention and she stood up to meet the girl in the middle of the room, right under the cone of light that came from the window.

“What is it?”

Glory tightened her grip on the notebook. “I’m serious, I want to help, but this is dangerous.”

Raelle took another step towards her, “I’m serious too Glory, I can’t leave her like that.”

She pointed at Scylla, still in the exact position they had laid her in. She looked the opposite of peaceful, and Raelle knew that whatever she was going through, trapped in her own mind, it was less than pleasant.

“I know, it’s why I’ve been trying to help you. I get how you feel, I really do. But I also know that you won’t be thinking straight when it comes to saving the person you love, and I don’t want you to die because you jumped in headfirst without training.”

Glory walked over to the desk, putting the notebook down and placing a hand on it.

“This was my aunt’s. She died a few years ago and my father let me keep some of her things. She kept a notebook about psychic practice.”

Raelle’s eyes went a little wide at that, she approached Glory and the other girl removed her hand, letting Raelle take the notebook.

She went through the notebook quickly, feeling a tiny spark of hope at noticing how explicit the explanations where.

“Glory, this has actual instructions!”

Glory nodded and let out a sound of surprise when Raelle suddenly enveloped her in a tight hug.

“Thank you!”

She smiled at Raelle and they both sat down on the floor, reading through the notebook and comparing its information with the notes they took from the other manuals they had read together.

Glory had been spending most of her free time with Raelle, helping with the research in every way she could.

She knew how it felt to lose someone, and she understood Raelle’s need to at least try to save Scylla.

She had caught on to the hostile vibe from Abigail and knew there was more to the story, but the important part for her was knowing that Raelle loved this girl, and she believed love always deserved a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope my chapters keep making some sort of sense despite the absolute madness I'm experiencing with this fandom. We truly are a chaotic bunch. 
> 
> Next chapter next week?


	3. A Dangerous Link

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raelle gets ready to link with Scylla with the support of her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm sorry this took so long! I've been working on so many other projects for MFS that I had basically no time to write!   
> Finger crossed, I might be able to finish next chapter soon too!

Raelle and Glory had been studying for days. Raelle had to go back to training eventually, but she would spend all of her free time going over Glory’s aunt’s notebook and her notes. 

She was sleeping an average of two hours per night, spending all of her time reading. She wouldn’t even show up for meals. Tally, Abigail, Glory and Libba would all take turns bringing food to the dorm room for her. 

It had now been two weeks since the attack, and the healers had made several attempts at waking the victims from their coma; all had been unsuccessful. 

Abigail was increasingly worried about Raelle’s health, and Tally was acting strange, avoiding the dorm unless it was to bring Raelle food or to sleep at night. 

Glory and Libba were almost constantly around, and for once Abigail didn’t mind the presence of her long time “enemy”. Without them, Abigail wasn’t sure she would have managed to keep the unit going. 

Libba was very supportive of Raelle when it came to encouraging her to try her best in training, and Glory was keeping her sane by helping her study. 

Abigail could even admit that there had been moments shared with Libba that felt a bit like friendship. She hadn’t realised how well Libba actually knew her, and she was surprised at discovering she knew the other quite well too. 

It turns out being childhood rivals can still bring people pretty close together. 

Meanwhile, Glory was alternating between being concerned for Raelle and worried about Tally’s odd absence. 

Her best friend had been avoiding her teammates and was AWOL for a good part of the day, every day. Glory had tried talking to her, but Tally had been weirdly closed off. 

***

As the third week rolled by, Raelle started to get frantic again. She wanted to link with Scylla as soon as possible, terrified of running out of time. Nobody knew how long the victims could survive in the magically induced coma, but the clock was ticking. 

She wasn’t able to concentrate on anything, she couldn’t maintain focus in training and while Anacostia had tried to go easy on her, the sergeant wasn’t going to be understanding forever. 

Eventually, Glory convened a team meeting, knowing that they couldn’t hold Raelle back for much longer. 

They forced Raelle to go for a walk, after days spent bending over books, and regrouped without her in the dorm room. 

“I think we should let her do it.” 

As soon as the words left Glory's mouth, Abigail pushed herself off the wall to protest, but it was Tally who spoke first, frustration evident in her voice. 

“It’s too soon. She’s not ready, she could die!” 

Glory raised her hands in a helpless gesture, “She’s never going to be fully ready without proper training.” 

“We shouldn’t let her do it at all,” Tally insisted, turning to look at Abigail for support. 

The unit leader stepped further into the room and reached out to put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. 

“Do you really think we can stop her?” 

Tally opened her mouth to say something, but Libba cut her off. 

“She’s going to do it alone if we’re not with her. At least if something goes wrong, we can get help.” 

Abigail nodded, reluctantly agreeing with the other girls, but Tally shot up from the chair and started pacing the room angrily. 

“We should tell Anacostia.” 

“So she can take Scylla away and Raelle can be even more broken?” Abigail reached out for Tally again, but the knower jerked away from her touch. 

“We should tell Anacostia about all of it,” she said, pointedly looking at Scylla and then back to Abigail. 

The taller girl was taken aback by the suggestion, not expecting Tally to want to betray Raelle’s trust. 

“Tally. I don’t think that’s a good idea right now,” she said cautiously. 

“Why not? She’s-” Tally cut herself off before saying too much, glaring at Abigail all the same. 

“I know, but we promised Raelle we would talk about it after Scylla wakes up.” 

Tally took a step forward to insist on the matter more, but Abigail grabbed her shoulders to keep her still and make her listen. 

“You know how much that’s going to affect Raelle. Do you really want to put her through all of that right now?” 

Finally, Tally’s shoulders relaxed, her whole body deflating as she let go of the fight. 

“No. No, I don’t. I just- I just don’t like this whole linking idea. Rae’s going to get hurt.” 

“We’ll all be here for her, Ally,” Glory gently intervened. 

“Yeah, you guys don’t have to do this alone. Gotta look out for the weaker units,” Libba winked, genuine care behind the humour. 

Abigail rubbed Tally’s shoulders and offered a little smile, “We’ll make sure she comes out of it safe and sound.” 

***

It was happening. Almost four weeks after the attack on Fort Salem, Raelle was finally getting a chance to save Scylla. 

She had been struggling to sleep the past fortnight, her mind crowded with thoughts of Scylla not making it, thoughts of failing, and traitorous reminders of what Scylla had revealed before the attack had taken place. 

Raelle had resolved to using medicinal brews to force her body to sleep, knowing she would need to be at her best to pull off this kind of linking. 

On the agreed day, Libba and Abigail set up the room following Glory’s instructions, they pulled a mattress to the floor, manoeuvring it to the middle of the room, and moved Scylla to lie on it. 

Around her, they drew a circle of salt for protection and set up incense and candles that were supposed to help Raelle connect with Scylla’s mind once the physical linking was complete. 

Glory had prepared an herbal tea for Raelle to drink, something to aid concentration. Tally and Abigail had worked on a protection charm for Raelle to wear. 

According to Glory’s aunt’s notes, the charm would lead Raelle back to the real world if she failed to find Scylla in whatever place the coma had manifested as in the Necro’s head. 

Before the linking ritual, Raelle had taken some time to herself, claiming she needed to get in the right head space. 

The tree that had become her and Scylla’s meeting spot was quiet that day. The place had seemed sad and empty to Raelle in the past month, but that morning it finally got some of its colours back. 

Sitting under the tree, Raelle started to feel hopeful, staring at the mix of green and yellows of the leaves. 

The changes that Raelle had been blind to were now being noticed by blue eyes that shone with a timid spark for the first time in a while. 

Bird nests were now evident among the branches, and Raelle counted six before giving up with a quiet smile. 

She had been sitting against the roots of the large tree for hours and was now preparing to go back to the dorm, where her friends waited for her. 

She let the good memories replay in her head on loop, all the happy moments she shared with Scylla under that tree. 

Before walking back to the barracks, one memory hit her clearer than any others. 

_ Raelle holds Scylla’s face in her hands. Her whole world right there, captured in ocean blue eyes. Raelle runs her thumb across her cheek, she watches in awe as Scylla closes her eyes for a second, enjoying the connection between them.  _

_ Their breaths mix, the rhythm of their breathing harmonising, and Raelle has never known a more real magic. They are creating their own world in the space between.  _

_ She feels a pull to the other girl; she never wants to let go, never wants to leave Scylla’s arms. The embrace feels so right, so simple in its truth.  _

_ This is who they can be. A whole.  _

_ They both had been running, fighting, struggling. This is their peace. In each other, they can rest, they can be without weight. Their past left behind, and their future unbound, free from the chains that constrict witches and forge their fates.  _

_ In this moment, Destiny has lost its battle, and they have found the only freedom that counts, that of choosing one another.  _

_ Witches have carved themselves a place in society, paying the highest price for it. They belong to the state, belong to the army, their lives bound to service.  _

_ But here, in this moment, Raelle finds a different kind of belonging, one that doesn’t make her feel powerless and enslaved. This is the place she gets to choose. She claims the freedom of choosing to walk at the side of someone she’s learning to love.  _

_ “Whoever you are. Whoever you were. I’m in. No matter what happens, no matter what anybody else thinks, I’m with you.”  _

***

Glory had instructed everyone on what to do in case something went wrong. She had organised a schedule so they could all take turns watching over Raelle and covering for her absence in case the linking took longer than a day. And now she was giving Raelle one last talk before they began. 

Abigail had her own speech for her friend, mostly threatening the other girl into coming back safe, “or else”. 

Tally was pacing worriedly, and Libba had to physically force her to sit down so she wouldn’t distract Raelle and unnerve everyone. 

Then finally, once Glory was satisfied Raelle was ready, they let her start. 

The young fixer drank the herbal concoction Glory had brewed for her, then she stepped into the circle of salt, clenching the charm she had crafted for Scylla in one hand and the one her unit had made for her in the other. 

She placed the bird skull charm on Scylla’s chest, her hand gently resting on her collarbone as Raelle pushed the boundaries of her linking capabilities. 

It was already much harder to link with someone unconscious, and the coma provided an even tougher challenge. 

Raelle tried for never ending minutes to connect with Scylla, but she was unable to find a way in. The coma was shutting her body off from any external interference, the same it was doing to her mind. 

Raelle was sweating with the effort to reach out to Scylla’s energy, feeling her own spill all over the place in a desperate attempt to find an opening. But it was like a barrier separated Scylla from the world. 

Finally, after watching her friend try over and over for several minutes, Glory reached out to stop her, a hand coming down gently to hold her shoulder back. 

“Raelle, it’s not working,” Abigail said softly, genuine concern filling her voice. 

“No, no, I can do it. I just need to find-” 

“Stop,” Glory interrupted calmly. "I have another idea."

Raelle reluctantly let go of Scylla and turned to hear the other fixer out. 

“I’ve been thinking about how the coma could affect the linking. It’s not a natural coma, so you’re struggling to find something to fix,” Glory started to explain. 

“The magic that is keeping her unconscious is too strong for you to break, and it is not something that can be healed. We’re not fully trained as fixers; and with our limited skills, we need to know what to target when we link with someone. Something needs to be physically wrong for us to connect with them. 

“So, I was thinking, maybe we could force that. And, before you hit me, hear me out. If we draw some blood, maybe give her a small cut... Nothing too painful and nothing that could make her condition worse!” Glory was quick to add as Raelle started glaring at her. 

“Just a small wound that you could heal. That way, it gives you an in. You can heal the cut and link with her. Then you can deepen the link to connect with her mind.” 

Glory finished explaining and silence filled the room for a suspended moment. 

Libba and Abigail shared looks with each other, waiting on Raelle’s reaction. Tally was bouncing her leg up and down nervously, and Raelle was staring at the floor deep in thought. 

“You’re right,” she said eventually, “it could work.” 

Libba offered Raelle her knife and everyone held their breath as Raelle made a small cut on Scylla’s arm before pushing the blade aside and trying to heal the wound. 

This time, her energy knew where to focus and Scylla’s body responded to it. The cut quickly closed up, a barely there red line appearing instead on Raelle’s arm. 

Raelle didn’t pay it any mind, instead concentrating on pushing the link further, trying to connect with Scylla’s mind and subconscious. 

She almost lost hope again, until a slight feeling of dizziness started to come over her. She had found a way to deepen the link, and the coma was now slowly extending to her body as well. 

It took almost half an hour for the process to be complete. Her body went down first, her limbs dropping to the floor inertly one by one. 

First she lost feeling in her legs, then her arms started to fall asleep and she had to lie down next to Scylla, unable to hold herself up any longer. Her hand still on the other girl’s collarbone, her torso went next. 

It felt like her heart was going to stop, instead her heartbeat just slowed to an unhurried rhythm, the pace decreasing until she could barely feel it in her chest. 

Her mind fought to remain awake, even as she willed it to let go, but the almost still heartbeat made it impossible for any part of her to remain conscious. Finally, everything went dark. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I classed Glory as a Fixer because why not. 
> 
> If you wanna talk, you can drop me a DM on Twitter @gay_bookworm or say hi on Tumblr - justawordunsaid. 
> 
> And if you're curious about what's keeping me so busy, you should check out @SwitchesPodcast on Twitter ;) that's one of the many projects I've been working on as a proud Switch. 
> 
> See ya next week (with a bit of luck)!

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Twitter for more Motherland content and hit me up with prompts: @gay_bookworm 
> 
> Characters are not mine, all credit for that goes to the amazing show that is Motherland: Fort Salem. Go watch it!!


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